Florida banks narrow losses, reduce loans

Florida’s banks greatly reduced their losses in the first quarter, but also cut back on their lending.

Banks chartered in the state lost a combined $104 million in the first quarter, improved from a $468 million loss in the fourth quarter, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data released Thursday.

The change was driven by smaller charges for problem loans and a higher net interest margin.

While 54 percent of Florida banks lost money in the first quarter, that’s an improvement from the 76 percent that lost money in all of 2009. Half of the state’s banks showed earnings improvement during the most recent quarter.

The most profitable banks in Florida during the first quarter were:

Miami Lakes-based BankUnited: $65.3 million

Jacksonville-based EverBank: $31.3 million

Miami-based Northern Trust N.A.: $29.2 million

Miami-based Premier American Bank N.A.: $24.6 million (after acquiring the assets of two failed Florida banks)

St. Petersburg-based Raymond James Bank: $19.7 million

The Florida banks that lost the most in the first quarter were:

Naples-based Bank of Florida – Southwest: $19.1 million

Miami-based TotalBank: $17.5 million

Fort Lauderdale-based BankAtlantic: $17.3 million

Miami-based Ocean Bank: $14.7 million

Pensacola-based Coastal Bank and Trust of Florida: $13.1 million

The combined net income for all banks nationwide reached $18 billion in the first quarter, up from earnings of $914 million in the fourth quarter.

FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair called it the best earnings performance for the industry in two years.

Florida banking customers, however, didn’t see much benefit. The loans held by Florida’s 278 banks decreased 3.2 percent, to $105.6 million, during the first quarter. Loans fell 15.5 percent during the past 12 months.

State-chartered banks increased their assets moderately to a combined $158.9 billion, mostly due to attracting more deposits for cash on hand.

Loan quality at Florida banks slightly improved. They reported 7.74 percent of loans as late or unpaid as of March 31, down from 7.82 percent as of Dec. 31. That’s still higher than the national noncurrent loan ratio of 5.45 percent.

Florida banks’ repossessed properties climbed by 7.8 percent, to $1.77 billion, during the first quarter.

The FDIC’s “Problem List” grew to 775 banks as of March 31 from 702 at year-end. That’s the most since 1993. While the FDIC does not reveal the identities of the banks on that list, Florida had 24 undercapitalized banks as of March 31 that are still open.